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New face joins El Paso City Council on 'Road to Greatness'
June 23, 2009 |
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By David Burge / El Paso Times
Posted: 06/23/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT
EL PASO -- El Paso's newest city representative, Carl L. Robinson, pledged to be the "best representative that money can't buy" during his inaugural remarks Monday night at the Plaza Theatre.
About 300 El Pasoans, many of them there to support Robinson and cheer him on, watched him get sworn in as just the third African-American to serve on El Paso's City Council.
Mayor John Cook dubbed Robinson "Mr. Landslide," acknowledging the 70 percent of the vote he got in his June 6 runoff against incumbent Melina Castro.
The "Mr. Landslide" comment brought the loudest ovation of the night from the community leaders and business people who attended the city's inauguration ceremony.
Cook and city Reps. Susie Byrd, Emma Acosta and Steve Ortega, who all won new terms, were also sworn in. Three municipal court judges -- Odell S. Holmes Jr., Maria Ramirez and Maximino D. Muñoz -- also took the oath of office. Three other municipal court judges were unable to attend.
"I may compromise on some issues, but I won't compromise on my integrity," Robinson said.
Robinson finally gained that elusive City Council seat after failing in three previous bids in 2001, 2003 and 2005.
"I had four years to work on this speech," he joked. He said being "persistent and consistent" proved to be the difference this time around.
Westsider Craig Thompson said he attended because he had worked with Robinson on the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. food drive and wanted to show his support.
"Of course, there's some special pride" seeing a fellow African-American elected, Thompson said. "Just because you're African-American, that doesn't mean you can't represent the entire community. That's what this election means to me."
Cook pointed to the official program for the ceremony, which was titled "On the Road To Greatness."
"That's fitting for El Paso," Cook said. He rattled off a list of positives happening in the community: the improvement of Sun Metro's on-time performance from about 75 percent four years ago to 98 percent now; the growth at Fort Bliss; the creation of a four-year medical school and a children's hospital; and $150 million worth of redevelopment projects Downtown.
Byrd echoed the mayor's comments.
"We're on the edge of greatness, and this election shows there's a lot of confidence in the direction we're going," Byrd said.
Three of the four city representatives who were up for re-election won new terms this spring.
Ortega joked that everyone's speeches all sounded alike in their positive tone.
"I don't think the work is done yet," he said. "That's why I ran for re-election."
Acosta, in a nod to a contentious race against José Alexandro Lo zano, said, "I have one last thing to say, I do live in District 3." That brought laughter from the crowd. |
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